A gigantic snake discovered in India: the Vasuki Indicus, as long as a school bus

It is called Vasuki Indicus, it is a new species of giant snake, which lived about 47 million years ago in the state of Gujarat, India. This enormous reptile was described by scientists from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, who published an article in the journal Scientific Reports to make the results of their work known.

The team, led by Debajit Datta and Sunil Bajpai, discovered the fossil remains of the species, which could reach an estimated length of between 11 and 15 meters, practically as long as a school bus. The specimen was recovered from the Panandhro lignite mine, Kutch, and was named based on the country of discovery and the mythical serpent around the neck of the Hindu deity Shiva.

The authors described 27 mostly well-preserved vertebrae, some of them articulated, that appear to come from an adult animal. The bone fragments measure between 37.5 and 62.7 millimeters long and 62.4 and 111.4 millimeters wide, suggesting a large, cylindrical body. The scientists therefore hypothesized that the V. Indicus specimen they belonged to reached a length of between 10.9 and 15.2 meters.

These dimensions would be comparable to the extinct Titanoboa species, but scholars point out that it will be necessary to conduct further investigations to obtain more precise estimates of the animal’s features. The researchers also hypothesize that the prehistoric predator hunted slowly, like anacondas. V. Indicus, the authors conclude, would seem to belong to the madtsoiidae family, which existed from the late Cretaceous to the late Pleistocene, in a wide range of territories.

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